By Femi Anamelechi
The Nigeria Customs Service and its Benin Republic counterpart have resolved to work out a strategic partrship on geospatial technology to strengthen economic security and surveillance along their shared border corridor.This was disclosed during a strategic engagement at the ECOWAS Conference Hall, Seme-Krake, Joint Border Post. The meeting was aimed at consolidating existing synergy to curb trans-border crime and facilitate legitimate trade., Customs Area Controller of the Seme Area Command, Comptroller Abdullahi Kaila, described the initiative as a major step toward improving border management, enhancing trade, and addressing security challenges along one of West Africa’s busiest trade corridors.”Seme border remains a vital trading corridor and has witnessed numerous challenges. With this geospatial initiative, some of the issues can be addressed and we can boost our revenue,” Kaila stated.Addressing media at the event the Head of Geospatial at the Nigeria Customs Service, Deputy Comptroller of Customs Labaran Ahmed, said the initiative is designed to test-run the Service’s border management application using the World Customs Organization (WCO) satellite platform.”With this new tool, we will not only identify vulnerable points along the border but also strategically deploy our field officers to those locations for targeted operations and more effective results,” he said.Ahmed pointed out that that Nigeria, the Republic of Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Togo are among the pioneer countries implementing the geospatial technology, adding that its success has attracted wider interest across the continent.”We recently had a master-class training and additional 19 African countries including Egypt, Senegal, Kenya, and Mali among other Customs administration have decided to adopt the tool to fight smuggling activities,” he added.
